Meori Apeuda

Chapter 20

We spent the next two hours in the dance practice room. But not with dancing. Felix had offered to show me a few techniques and easy moves to defend myself, if I ever got into trouble. He had taught me how to escape a headlock, which points on the human body were especially painful when they got hit and now he showed me a kicking technique.

"No, not like this. Hold your arms this way" - he corrected my posture - "so you can protect your midst. And now try again, kick as high as you can." Already breathing hard I followed his instructions and kicked, losing my balance and landed with a small "woah" on my ass. Felix lost it and sank to the floor laughing. I buried my face in my hands but joined him.

"I think you had enough for today..." he chuckled and helped me to my feet. "Yeah, I think so too. Landing two times on my butt is enough for one day." We giggled, left the practice room and headed up the stairs.

"Looks like I have to shower again..." I sighed, wiping the sweat from my forehead, but enjoying the feeling of being exhausted after exercise. "How late is it?" Felix took out his phone and checked. "Nearly 2pm." I nodded. "Ok, thanks. Do you have anything scheduled this afternoon?" He shook his head. "Nah. I just wanted to bake some cookies today."

"Oh my, I haven't had cookies in ages..." I sighed and he squeezed my shoulder assuringly. "You'll get some in a few hours, promise!" I cheered. "Yesss!"

On the ground floor we met Changbin, who seemed to have just finished his exercise in the gym as he was covered in sweat too. He smiled at us and headed for the first floor. I called him back. "Bin? Do...you know where...uh... where... a forget it, doesn't matter..." I blushed as he and Felix started grinning knowingly.

"Chan-hyung's still exercising, downstairs." Bin answered and Felix added: "The gym is the last door left coming from the stairs, just in case you want to know..." He grinned innocently and dodged my light punch for his shoulder, following Changbin upstairs.

I hesitated for a second, but...I missed Chan. Thinking of an excuse why I would bother him I descended downstairs again, heading for the door Felix had described.

Fast music blared behind it, accompanied by a strange thumping sound. While still debating with myself if it was okay to enter or not, I cracked the door open, stuck my head inside and looked around carefully. My breath caught.

The room itself was small, a little bit bigger than Chan's bedroom, but crammed with fitness equipment. There were pull up bars, two treadmills, fitness bikes and a punching bag in the opposite corner. Chan stood before it, shirtless, his back to me and let one hard hit after the other rain down on it, making the obviously heavy punching bag swing.

I swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself or to better phrase it: my hormones. Still staring at his naked back my brain suddenly flashed me images of me kissing his shoulders, my hand running down that back, his hips, his...

I blinked rapidly and shook my head. Get a grip, girl! At that second he delivered a last, powerful hit and turned around, lifting one hand to wipe sweat from his brow. His upper body was glistening with sweat and although I proud myself to be a grown up woman, usually independent and modern...I felt my knees turning to jelly. He was simply gorgeous.

The next second our eyes met and he froze, his eyes widening and his ears turning red. He awkwardly tried to cover his chest with his arms, but seemed to notice that the attempt was futile and scratched the back of his head instead. He took a few quick steps to the music system and turned down the volume.

I entered, tugging at the hem of my shirt again. "Hi..." I began, but my brain seemed to be stuck, I had already forgotten my carefully chosen explanation why I was here. After a few seconds of silence I just closed my mouth and looked around, as if those treadmills were the most fascinating things I had seen to this day. "Nice gym..." I added and pointed at the wall bars, but didn't dare to look at him, because I just knew that my ability to speak in coherent words would be gone at the same second.